Posted September 30, 2025in Stray Thoughts
I spoke to two groups in recent weeks, and people at both gatherings wanted to know about the work of the organization I lead, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. If I had known then what I know now, I could have been more effective. I could have advised them
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Posted September 09, 2025in Stray Thoughts
During decades as a journalist, I had countless conversations with interesting people — future presidents, wannabe leaders, governors, business executives, religious thinkers, crooks, and ordinary folks who made a difference in their own corner of the world. With soldiers headed to our cities and chaos in our nation, now is
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Posted September 02, 2025in Stray Thoughts
Even the best salesman would struggle explaining away the reasons for the latest contradiction from the president of the United States. He believes crime in Washington, D.C., is so out of control that 2,000 National Guard soldiers and federal agents need to keep residents and visitors safe. His order came
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Posted August 27, 2025in Stray Thoughts
Government regulates business to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. That is the theory behind enacting and enforcing regulations, and it is a commendable mission. But, too often the regulators seemingly do not want the people they are supposed to protect to know which businesses fall short
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Posted August 11, 2025in Stray Thoughts
Lyman Dillon resides in the dusty recesses of Iowa history for his role in 1839 in one of Iowa’s earliest infrastructure projects. Dillon’s work also figures indirectly in a modern-day lesson on how NOT to run a government. This how-not-to-do-it tutorial occurred last week during a Jones County Board of
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Posted August 05, 2025in Stray Thoughts
One of the frustrations of being a **former** newspaper editor is no longer having a few dozen reporters to pursue answers to questions going unasked and unanswered each day.Two of my go-to questions were “why” and “why not.” And my favorite open-ended query to a newsmaker was “explain this to
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Posted July 28, 2025in Stray Thoughts
My family has called Davis County home for 185 years, all the way back to when William D. Evans and William Henson climbed down from their wagons in 1839 and 1840, a half-dozen years before Iowa became a state. Evanses, Hensons and their neighbors were on the town square
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Posted July 21, 2025in Stray Thoughts
Andy McKean is a charming country lawyer from Anamosa. He grew up in New York and was drawn to Iowa by his family roots. He has owned a bed-and-breakfast, called square dances and played in a dance band named the Scotch Grove Pioneers. His tenure in the Iowa Legislature stretched
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Posted July 15, 2025in Stray Thoughts
One longtime truism of journalism is “Names make news.” That shorthand stems from the fact people better understand the significance and context of news when they learn about events and issues through the eyes and experiences of people they know or with whom they can identify. The late Iowa Supreme
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Posted June 17, 2025in Stray Thoughts
People living in central Iowa received a wake-up call last week that should drag water-quality back in front of the state’s 3.2 million residents. Iowa’s largest water supplier, one serving a fifth of the state’s homes and businesses, ordered its 600,000 customers to immediately reduce water demand by ending lawn-watering
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